Good times.

This past weekend was quite the fun yet full of DIY. My darling niece/bestie Taylor came and spent 4 days with me and while she was here we worked on Gracie's new big girl room. Taylor and I are such a great team when it comes to DIY, well technically we make a great team in life, but yanno. Best friends. Anyway, we painted, built furniture, played with decor and laughed and joked the whole weekend. I adore having her here! Check out Gracie's room. Keep in mind, we are waiting for Gracie's new floor to get here from Lumber Liquidators, probably a couple weeks till that's here and then we'll be putting that in.

The lighting in these pictures is pretty terrible. I guess it was just the time of day I took the pictures.

This is the view when you walk into her room, from the hallway.









This corner bookshelf was originally white, but I spruced it up and painted it coral and baby pink. It turned out great! The art on either side of the shelf was printed and 3 out of the 4 were hand painted. Taylor did one and I did three. I'll take close ups of those for my next post.







Close up of the dresser. It was originally an old wood looking dresser that we got for free, like the bookshelf. But I knew right from the beginning that I wanted to paint it ombre. I love how it turned out!



The decor above Gracie's bed is probably my favorite part. Here she is enjoying her new room! :)



Aaand that's it! We're currently getting the front of the house repairs underway, by the end of the week fancy new pergola will be going up. I'm so excited! Ahh, the joys of being a homeowner. ;)

Hello, 2014

Happy New Year! Wow, it has been a looong time since I've updated. Needless to say, I've been a little busy between the holidays, Gracie's 6th birthday, being sick, being a new mom to a new baby and just living life the best I can. So much has happened since my last post. Gracie turned 6, had a fun birthday party and during the whole thing I was sick as all hell. I didn't have a voice for 3 or 4 days, I lost hearing in my left ear due to an ear infection and was just feeling rather yucky for most of November. By the time Thanksgiving got around I was starting to feel better, but enjoyed spending the holiday with my family. December was another busy month due to the holidays being so close this year, a shorter time span then usual to buy gifts, decorate and just get everything done. We baked cookies, brownies, ate lots of yummy food, opened lots of presents and I'd say had a pretty great month. We ended 2013 with a small get together here at our home with our closest friends, drank waaay to much alcohol, played lots of games, shot off fireworks and rang in the New Year with laughs and joy.

As for 2014, well we will have to see what happens! We or should I said I have lots of plans this year, to do the outside of the house. I'm going to paint, take down our front screened porch, put up a pergola, change out the poles in our carport, fix some rotted wood, spruce up the landscaping and that's only the outside. Inside, I have plans to paint the main tv wall in my living room in a fun Moroccan pattern, stain our chest/coffee table and mostly, my most exciting task, redecorate Gracie's bedroom. Boy, do I have plans!

1 & 2 Baja & Cozy Cottage by Behr - I'm undecided on the exact color I want to do, but this is the basic idea.

A. Kura by Ikea - Of course, Ikea! This is the bunk bed Gracie has been asking for and the good thing is, the bottom portion is actually right on the floor so when Lily is big enough to be in a big girl bed, she won't get hurt if she were to roll off. Gracie can't wait to be roommates with her, it's cute!

B. Throw pillows from Ikea & Etsy - Gracie's would obviously be a G, not an E. But that's what it will look like and the other pillow is just one of many from Ikea I'm going to be throwing on her bed & reading corner.

C. Shelf, Bins, Wire hanger for Art all from Ikea - Gracie needs a place for toys that's organized and also a place for her art, these things will work perfectly in her room. View a larger image here, in my Pinterest.

D. Ombre dresser - I'll be keeping Gracie's current dresser and painting it just like the one above. Ombre!

E. Color Pop Bed Set by Circo at Target - This is the exact thing I was looking for when I started looking months ago. It's everything Gracie loves! Lots and lots of colors!

F. Tastrup by Ikea - This rug is so Gracie. She's currently obsessed with all things Lalaloopsy, but I wasn't willing to do a themed room for something I know she will be tired of in 6 months. So, this little pop of buttons gives her a taste of the Loopsy button eyes without going all Loopsy wild in her room. She's happy, I'm happy, solved!

G. Colorful frames & art - Obviously there isn't a place for me to link for this picture but you get the idea. Lots of colorful frames & art on her walls. Fun! Colorful! SO Gracie!

So, lots of posts coming soon! Stay tuned! :)

Starting to look like fall around here!

Alright, so it's only starting to look like fall inside of my house. Outside, it's still hitting the mid-90's. I love decorating for fall, it's probably my favorite holiday to decorate the house for. It's so simple and fun. I'd like to print out some cute things to put in frames but I've been slacking. Sooner or later. Hey, I have a almost 2 month old who likes to sleep during the day and stay up all night. BTW, it's 2:30am and I have a wide awake infant. Hoo-ray.

I mentioned in my last post that I moved around the living room. I actually decided to remove the dining room area for the time being and moved my table into the kitchen and eliminated the chalkboard table I made, just for now. You never know what mood I might be in, in the winter.

Fall dacor.


Wide shots of my living room. Feel free to click them for larger shots.



You can view shots of the living room, how it looked before with the dining room combo here.

Last month, in quick review

Hey! It's been nearly a month since I've last updated. With that said, my sweet baby girl Lily Jade will be one month on Thursday! Time is really flying by. I remember feeling crazy miserable the last month of my pregnancy and just wanting to be done with all of it and then the last night in the hospital when I just felt so uncomfortable because I wanted to be in my own bed and now it's already been a month since she was born. I gotta say that she is growing beautifully. Her dr is very pleased with her progress and says she's absolutely perfect, not like I didn't already know that or anything. ;)



Lily's welcome home baby party was a success. Everyone had a really nice time & Lily also got some really cute gifts. I made all of the decorations myself, as you can see in the picture. My niece Taylor and I made all of the food, except for the chicken strips we had catered by PDQ and the pasta & potato salads my mom made. I even reused the garland and the banner in Lily's room after the party. It looks so cute in there!



See, cute right? In other news, Gracie started Kindergarten yesterday. We found out that Gracie's teacher is the same teacher Paul had for Kindergarten. She said she remembered Paul but I mean, that was 20 years ago so I doubt she did, she was probably just being nice. I actually already knew her from when I worked for before & after school care at Gracie's school before she was born. She remembered me too, but that I believe because it wasn't that long ago. haha



I also made Lily's birth announcements and ordered 100 of them from Shutterfly since I got a free coupon from them in the mail. I can't wait to mail them out once they get here. Here is a preview of what it looks like, without me actually posting the real thing. I wanna mail them out before I post it here. I also took Lily's one month pictures, which I used some of in her birth announcement. I'll share those pictures next time I update.



That's it for now. I'll update again soon, I have a cool project I'm going to be working on in the living room pretty soon, well a couple different projects in there and also I'll share all the details for Gracie's room makeover I have planned for November, as a birthday present. Lots of projects coming up!

She's almost here!!

Welp, it's officially at the waiting game point. I'm scheduled to be induced on Monday (7/22) at 7am. Three more days. I can't believe it! I actually just had a little scare about 30 minutes when I went to the bathroom (TMI!!!) and wiped and saw my mucus plug. I kinda freaked because I had been losing a little here and there over the past few weeks but this time, it was A LOT. So, I did what every pregnant woman nowadays does and ran right to google to ask what to do. Directed me to babycenter and yahoo! questions which both said to call my OBGYN and ask about it just to make sure, so I did. My dr said that yes it is my mucus plug and to keep my eye on if contractions get going and they are 3-5 minutes apart, then to get to the hospital. I'm not having any contractions right now, just feel little L moving around in there. I really just hope I can wait till Monday. Paul already made the work schedule for next week and has the week off, starting Monday. So, hopefully she'll stay put for Daddy's sake. Fingers crossed.

In other news, Paul & I decided that with this pregnancy (I don't remember if I mentioned this before) we'd prefer if no one came to the hospital except for my parents, Gracie & his Mom. The only people I'll have in the room with me during labor is my mom & Paul. I wanted it to be a much calmer laid back experience this time. Last time, with Gracie, it was a circus! Everyone I know who could fit in the room was there and it was very overwhelming. I didn't even expect that many people to STAY in the room but by that point I didn't really care either.

So, with that said, we know we still have lots of family and friends who will actually want to meet Baby L once shes born, so we decided we're going to have a Welcome Home Baby Party, about two weeks after L is home. We are expecting around 20 or so people, which is a lot nicer to have in our home at one time, then a continued train of people coming and going at the hospital or a few days after she's born when we get home. Doing it all at once will be much easier for everyone. But mostly for L and I.

Of course, the little interior designer inside of me is screaming to get out and decorate something and with this party, I'll be able to get my fix. Here are a few ideas I snagged from Pinterest for the party.


Pinned from here.
-- I obviously won't be doing EVERYTHING in the image above, but I'm definitely sticking with the Yellow/Pink color theme and also love the streamers & banner. I'm going to also try and do something similar to the bunting on top of the cake, but with cupcakes instead. I have lots of ideas!


Pinned from here.
-- I'm going to do the paper dot garland and poms above the food table too. I'm making all of it myself tho.

I'm just going to do simple food for the party. Finger foods like fruit, veggies, chips & dips, cupcakes, etc. Paul wants to get chicken strips from PDQ and my mom is making potato & macaroni salads. But it's really just going to be a easy little lunch get together to introduce L to everyone. I'm looking forward to it!

I can't believe my next post will be a birth announcement! Time has flown!

Nursery Reveal

I know, I know, I've been MIA for nearly a month! First off, Baby L is STILL in my belly. She hasn't made her grand entrance into the world or anything. What happened was Gracie decided she should "clean" mine & Paul's laptops and wound up killing them. She completely burned out the power button on Paul's to where his wouldn't even turn on anymore. On mine she killed my keyboard. I could turn it on but not access anything because I had a password login for mine. So, I was screwed. I took it to a local PC repair guy who my family has used in the past and he got all of my personal files off the hard drive for me (thankfully, that was a-ok!) & put it into my now new laptop. It isn't brand spanking new but it's nearly exactly like my other one and does everything I need to do so I'm happy! Then in the mist of all that, our AC in our house broke and we were without AC for two weeks. This happened right before we left for our Babymoon. The inside of the house got up to 87 degrees nearly everyday, it was awful! Then I ordered an iPhone 4s off eBay and was told it was ready to go and when I got it, it wasn't. It was still locked for my phone provider, so we had to shell out more money to get it unlocked and THAT took another 2 weeks. So, I didn't have AC or a laptop or a phone for parts of June. June was the worst, can I just say that?! Ugh. Anyway, the nursery is DONZO! I'm so excited to share every inch and every detail! Here we go...

Before we start, you can see before photos here and the original plans for this room here.

This is the view as you enter.




As you enter and turn left, you'll find the crib on the stripe wall. I bought the yellow lanterns at a party store back when we had the Gender party and KNEW I'd reuse them for the nursery. I made the pompoms myself and found the art on google.




I'm so in love with how all of it turned out looking after it was all put together. I love that elephant head!


To the left of the crib. I made the alphabet art myself.


To the right of the crib. The top picture is L's first ultrasound images & the art under I made myself, it says her name (revealed! gasp!) and under that I put "Pretty little flower... From the name of the flower, a symbol of purity. She is like the beginning of all things - wonder, hope, a dream of possibilities." Then her letter L in bubblegum pink, it actually matches the color of the heart in the alphabet art.


Her crib & bedding.


Her dresser. Top drawer. All organized. Blankets, socks, wipes, pacifiers, lotions, soaps, towels, etcetc.


Middle drawer. Clothes that will fit now and cases of wipes.


Bottom drawer. All diapers. There are actually a lot of clothes that she will grow into underneath all of that. We really made out like bandits at our gender reveal party. I don't think we'll need diapers or wipes for a very very very long time. Under the crib is FULL of diapers in all sizes. We are set!


To the right of her dresser. The rocking elephant Paul found at goodwill LONG before I even started on the nursery. Such a great find! I think we paid 5 bucks? And her diaper holder, full of diapers.


On the opposite side of the room facing the crib is the wall we (my dad & I) built for the washer/dryer. The art above it was made by Gracie, Paul & Jordan.


To the left of that is the window back in the little nook, where I put a trio of laundry baskets. It all fits perfectly!


L's diaper bag that my parents got me. I love it so much! Vera Bradley. It's perfection!


Inside. All ready to go to the hospital. Blankets, take home outfit, beanies and extra onesies, as well as other random goodies tucked away.


That's it! Feel free to ask questions and leave comments! I'm so happy with how everything turned out, it's so beautiful and a perfect little nursery for our new baby girl.

Can't stop, won't stop

I feel like I haven't stopped going since my last post. Ok I lied. I didn't do anything today except the basics (yanno, sweep, wipe counters, etc) but other than that I haven't stopped doing things in the Nursery or just around the house in general. For the past year or two I've wanted to paint a little cabinet/shelf I got from my grandmother after she passed away. It sat in my living room and then my hallway holding dvd's for years. It stayed boring and beaten up for as long as I can remember. This past weekend I decided to tackle that project head on. I don't know what got into me but I just felt like painting... and sanding and lots of painting. Here he is before, all sad and whatnot...



So dusty and sad. Poor little guy! First I sanded lightly around all of the edges to get all of the pointy parts off. You have to understand this shelf is pretty old so it has had lots of ware and tare over the years. Even the bottom piece of wood that goes across the bottom in the front had fallen off so I had to get new nails and nail it back in place. After that, I painted, giving time to dry between each coat for about 30 - 45 minutes. Then I'd add another coat. Four coats total. Yeah, FOUR. I used Behr's Paint & Primer in Wildflower Honey, actually the same yellow as I used in Baby L's nursery! I loved it that much! Plus hey, free paint! Here she is all happy and pretty! I also moved around decor to add to her beauty and freshened up my front door area in my Living Room. :)



Since then, Paul, Gracie & I headed to IKEA to buy furniture for Baby L's nursery. We picked up her crib, dresser, picture frames, crib mattress & a drawer organizer. I've now crossed off 6 things of my 31 thing to do list. We have SO MUCH stuff to get still. I feel like I'm falling behind. Anyway, we got the crib built as well as the dresser. We moved the crib into the room and with our luck, it was too wide! Which kind blew my mind because, when we measured the room it was perfect for the dimensions of the crib. I told you, this room is tiny! So, we gotta be EXACT. After huffing and puffing and trying to figure out what the issue was, it hit me that the crib didn't fit because we always measured the room WITHOUT the floor molding in mind. I called my parents in a panic and explained the situation. My dad came over a day or so later and worked his magic and removed parts of the molding so the crib would now fit. Yay, now it fits! So, after we got everything in place, I got to work putting the bedding together (after washing & ironing it, of course) and then started to put away all of the clothes we've gotten so far. It felt good to start getting things done in there.

This past week Gracie made her art for Baby L's nursery. It turned out so cute. The image you see is just a sneak peak. She added a couple more things to it since I took that picture. She is so excited to see her baby sister and to be a big sister! I think she's really going to be great at it. Speaking of seeing Baby L, I scheduled my 3D/4D ultrasound for this coming Thursday. I can't wait to see a good look at her face and see how she's growing. Because I can sure feel her. Her kicks are so violent at times! I swear there is a little ninja in my belly taking me as it's hostage! Paul's eyes got so big one night when he felt her kick because of how strong and hard it was. It was pretty fantastic to see! I also went to my last monthly ob/gyn appointment on Friday. I'm now going to bi-weekly appointments & in my third trimester! Time is really flying by. My doctor said he thinks she might come early, as in anytime around 36-38 weeks. Which of course made me think, 'OH CRAP, I HAVE EVEN LESS TIME TO GET EVERYTHING FOR HER DONE!' so, it's now crunch time. Time is flying & before you know it, Baby L will be here!

DIY Baby Mobile

About a month or two ago, ok maybe several months ago I found myself drooling over all of these fabulous mobiles that were hand made on Etsy, (seriously look at them! They are adorable!) and after weighing my options I decided that the prices were really out of my price range. The ones I was truly in love with were nearly $100+. I KNEW if I asked Paul for something that costs that much money that was just a decoration, he'd give me the side eye and once I did ask him and he did just that. So, I knew that wasn't going down. I looked and looked on Pinterest and finally found a few different things I liked but also kept in mind what I saw on Etsy that caught my eye and just kinda winged it. Here is a little run down of what I did...



SUPPLIES
- Felt fabric & Chevron fabric (I had leftover from this project)
- Thread, String & Ribbon
- Wooden Craft Ring
- Key Ring
- Poly-Fil
- Sharp scissors
- Buttons, Beads, etc (optional)
- Sewing Machine (& person who sews because I don't! haha)

I first searched Google images for an elephant stencil and found one, then I had it printed and went to work. I cut out all of my little elephants & the ears, then a week or so went by and I headed to my parents house for my mom's help. I seriously couldn't have done this project without my mom, since she's the talent that sews!



Once I had my elephants and ears ready to go, my mom and I hatched a plan and went to work. She sewed all of the elephants together and I stuffed them with the Poly-Fil, then as time went on we decided we'd add a couple more details. Changed up the style for each elephant by adding buttons on the ears and the way she sewed them. They turned out so fantastic!



And a close up shot... (the dark gray ones are my favorite!)



After that it was a days work and I went home and worked on the craft ring, I wrapped yellow ribbon all around it, attaching parts of it with my hot glue gun so it would stay in place, I continued wrapping the ribbon around it until it was completely covered. I also wrapped the key ring for the top layer with gray string. After all of that was done, I headed back to my mom's house to put everything together. Here is the final result...



Didn't it turn out great? I'm so happy with it! My mom and I couldn't stop looking at it when it was all finished. We really just trusted each other when it came to trying things and testing things out that worked for us... or really me, since it's for my little one. I'm so thankful that my mom was willing to take the time and help. Thanks mom! You rule!

I can't wait to hang it up in Baby L's room and add all of the other goodies to her room. We head to IKEA next Wednesday for furniture and goodies! I can't wait!

Bedroom flip-a-roo

Two posts in one week? Who am I? haha. This rarely happens anymore. But hey, here I am anyway! Earlier this week I got a fire under my ass and decided to rearrange my bedroom... again. But this time I really dove in head first. It took a whole day to get everything done, which I didn't mind since Gracie was with my parents for the day to go swimming. If you wanna see what the bedroom looked like before the big switch, you can see those here.

I knew right from the beginning that I wanted to move our Ikea PAX closets to a different place in the room. I made several drawn by hand maps of where to put them but nothing was working. Then finally it hit me and I was like a tornado taking everything out of my bedroom. I put everything in the kitchen (mattress, end tables, clothes, dresser, etc) for easy moving in the bedroom.

Of course, Max took it upon himself to sleep on top of the mattress the minute I put it out there.



And now pictures of my bedroom...

During the spring & summer months, my usual black & white fancy comforter is waaay too heavy so I put on our old pink one. The pink & green remind me of a watermelon, which then reminds me of summer. It's a win, win. I have plans on getting a new comforter, a green, white & grey one from Target but yanno, don't have the extra funds at the moment, but in time, we'll get it!



See. I moved the Pax closets to the opposite side of the room. In front of the window. Putting them in front of the window is no big deal since the view out that window is just a fence. No biggie!



My vanity is on the left side of the closets...



Paul's dresser is on the right side, next to his side of the closet.



This is toward my side of the bed.



The TV is actually not in a bad spot. We can still watch tv from where the bed is now.



And this is the view from across the bed. Yes, we neeeeed to have a fan going at night. The mix of the sound & cool air helps us sleep like babies.



Here is another shot of the bed with the lamp lights turned on.



And of the closet area.



Here is a close up of the area above the headboard... my favorite part!



We both love the room so much like this. We actually have what seems like lots more room to walk around, fold clothes, do a little happy dance, whatever. ;)

Have you rearranged a room recently? Did it take you a whole day too? Feel free to share the deets. ;)